Rebel Raw - Sam Adams' version of Enjoy By/Heady Topper

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/10/03/double-ipa-sam-rebel-raw-beer/

Seems like Jim Koch tried to stay off the IPA bandwagon for a long time. Looks like he's going in whole hog now.

Honestly the article seems like click-bait. A best-by/enjoy-by date on a bottle has nothing to do specifically with Stone and Heady is not the only unfiltered IIPA; it certainly wasn't the first. The title also says it is "making alcohol distributors nervous" then explains nothing about how people are nervous.

I think if The Boston Beer Co. wants to make an unfiltered IIPA with a bottle date more power to them. I hope it's fantastic, but unfortunately I don't have high hopes. They've done some hoppy beers in the past that were easily outclassed. Having a fresh hoppy beer does not automatically qualify it as a world-class amazing beer. I'm hoping the recipe really is good so I can have another well-distributed, fresh, good tasting IIPA.

It seems to me that Koch is targeting the band of beer drinkers aspiring to leave the BMC behind but haven't "arrived" in the Promised Land of hard core brews.
And SA is making a metric crap ton of money in that space.

This particular launch may be more corporate entertainment vehicle than a do or die attempt to enter a rather exotic segment (exotic in the context of "who actually drinks this stuff" - think "eclectic consumer").

In any case, I'll reserve judgement 'til I actually quaff a sixer...

Cheers!

I've heard Jim say before that big, hoppy American IPAs don't appeal much to him. Aside from SA's distribution connections to get the beer in a lot of places and quickly, I don't see anything else here that would make other brewers nervous.

I'll give it a shot if I see it, but I can't help but feel he's a little late to the game and trying to catch up. OTOH, if this takes off, maybe I can count on finding a decent IIPA at Crapplebees or wherever.

Jim says at the end of the article, "It's a way of bringing a level of quality and hoppy goodness to the drinker that really is not that available." which is false IMO. Unless you're too lazy to find a beer you like and is fresh I'd assume this doesn't really apply to beer drinkers that like 10% IIPA's. Maybe it's just my area but I don't have to buy an IIPA to have fresh beer. I'm lucky enough to have several breweries around town that I can either go to or go to the store and get cans that were packaged within 2 weeks.
I think a great perk of this someone already said... maybe having it available at a buffalo wild wings, fridays or applebee's.

Sounds great - point of that article being freshness. How many craft brews are dated ? - prob. less than 50 percent. I see many IPAs on shelves today that are dated from 2014 - they should be pulled.
Many are learning but how many times does the BMC drinker pop for a $10 six or 4 pack only to be disappointed.

I think the "make distributors nervous" is the fact that he will pull the supply off the shelves after a certain date, that sets a new precedent in the distribution/sales world.

Many breweries are getting on board with dating their "drink fresh" styles but its quite annoying when they don't. Any store with 1-2 year+ IPAs is a joke. I'd say they are a pretty crappy store.

I think it's a great idea. Even here in Oregon I see IPAs that are way too old and should have been pulled long ago. Just last week I saw a 6-pack of Laurelhurst Workhorse IPA which was bottled in early May. When it's fresh in the bottles (or on tap) it's a world class IPA, 4.5 months later it's a shadow of it's former self.

Fresh beer can be hard to find if you don't live next to a brewery. A lot of smaller towns your only choice for a decent beer selection might be the Safeway or Fred Meyers. If the beer isn't flying off the shelves it's probably going to be pretty old. It would be awesome if Sam Adams could get fresh beer into places like that.

"We're doing it in an ecosystem that has never had beer that is designed to be in a consumer's glass so fresh," he said. "It's a way of bringing a level of quality and hoppy goodness to the drinker that really is not that available."

Click to expand...

Well that is just BS. It might not have been done by Miller/Coors/Bud, but in the craft world MANY have picked up on the bottled date and the freshness of an IPA. Dumb comment if he was aiming at me and mine.

sablesurfer said:

Well that is just BS. It might not have been done by Miller/Coors/Bud, but in the craft world MANY have picked up on the bottled date and the freshness of an IPA. Dumb comment if he was aiming at me and mine.

Click to expand...

I don't think he was. I think he was aiming for the people just getting into craft beer, who will buy SA products due to the brand recognition and relatively accessible price, but are too intimidated by all the unfamiliar names on the shelves to just go out on a limb.

Not necessarily a bad move, they may just be acknowledging their "gateway beer" position in the market.

Who eats the cost of that dumped beer? SA? Distributors? Or retailers?